Category :Cullercoats WW1 Memorial Project

Marden High School’s History Detectives would like to invite members of the local community to St George’s Church in Cullercoats this Sunday 8th November at 9.30am for a dedication service for the new memorial to the fallen WW1 soldiers of Cullercoats.

Friday 10th July marked the end of our Cullercoats WW1 Memorial project, and our History Detectives have been hosting an all day Show and Share event, presenting projects about their ‘adopted’ soldiers of Cullercoats.

On Friday 7th November, Marden’s History detectives spent the day at St. George’s Church Hall in Cullercoats, interviewing members of the public to gather more research for their World War One Commemoration Project. This short video shows a flavour of the day.

Only a few weeks away from Armistice Day, we’d like to take the opportunity to invite members of the public, parents, carers, neighbours and friends to our special Community Memory Day, as part of an ambitious Key Stage 3 project.

We are researching the lives of Cullercoats residents who fought in World War One, see our attached poster for more information or click this link to go to our specially dedicated page.

Our intrepid Year 7 History detectives have taken their first steps as they embark on their ambitious World War One Memorial Project – they have visited St. George’s Church to see the restored war memorial and learn more about the fallen soldiers of Cullercoats.

The students have ‘adopted a soldier’ – each taking the name of a Cullercoats soldier killed in World War One, and on Tuesday they took a walk round Cullercoats village, visiting the houses where the soldiers lived, and in some cases, died.

The students delivered letters and flyers advertising our upcoming Community Memory Day on the 7th of November.

On Friday 10th October, 24 talented Yr8 artists took part in a Super Learning Day to commemorate the centenary of the start of the First World War. The aim was to honour the victims of this cruel war: by bringing to the attention of the community the suffering of many local families through the deaths of their loved ones.

Working collaboratively in groups of two and three, pupils created A1 sized paintings to reflect the involvement of local Cullercoats men who lost their lives in battle. We looked at the paintings of war artist Paul Nash as a starting point: in particular the lighting, colour and some details Nash used in his work to create land and seascapes of our own.

Pupils also looked at the creation and display of the installation by ceramic artist Paul Cummins: entitled ‘Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red’ which is currently on display at The Tower of London. We discussed the significance of the poppy as a symbol of hope in the years following the war. Influenced by this moving exhibition which runs until armistice day, pupils endeavoured to include the iconic image of the poppy as part of their painting.

Our project is running parallel to the official Tynemouth World War 1 Commemoration Project, so pupils were able to access locally researched information: particularly details of the men whose names are mentioned on the War Memorial in the church grounds. During the morning Mr Morris, Father Adrian: Rector of St George’s Cullercoats, and several members of the Heritage Memorial committee visited the classroom to witness the work as it was being produced.

Even though we were tackling a sombre subject, there was a good working atmosphere in the room throughout the day; everyone agreeing we had thoroughly enjoyed finding out more and commemorating the role of the local lads. It is intended to display some of the work in school and some at St George’s Church over the armistice day period to respectfully remember and honour the dead of our local community.